Modernism Overview

Modernism gathered pace from about 1850. Characterised by constant innovation, its key period in western society was during the 1920s and 30s. Collection Tate website proposes it was the design movement of the machine age that embraced purity, new technologies, eschewing ornamentation and historicism (n.d.). Modernists believed in good design for everyone. Modernism was a term that covered a range of movements, flourishing in many European countries, eventually America and world wide. These relating art movements emerged as the dominant style of the 20^th century, influencing all areas of art & design.

         

In Vienna 1903, Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser established the Wiener Werkstatte. This evolved from the Vienna Secession, 1897, a group of artists and designers that rejected floral ornamentation of the French Art Nouveau. Instead they adopted geometric patterns and simplified shapes. The Wiener Werkstatte produced ceramics, furniture, metalwork and more. In Hoffmann’s words, they were dedicated to the ‘pursuit of art and quality in all the crafts’ (Aynsley J, 2004 p.32). As outlined by Denzer, this philosophy was also reflected by the influence of William Morris who believed in well made, hand crafted goods. Following the group’s motto ‘better to work ten days on one product than to manufacture 10 products in one day’ (n.d).

By the 1920s, designers began embracing new technologies and materials. Walter Gropius founded German art school, Bauhaus in 1919. Gropius aimed to reunite art with crafts in the aftermath of WW1. As mentioned in the Bauhaus’s programme, Gropius states,

'Architects, painters, sculptors, we must all return to crafts! ... Let us therefore create a new guild of craftsmen’s without the class distinctions that raise an arrogant barrier between craftsman and artist! Let us together desire, conceive and create the building of the future, which will combine everything – architecture, sculpture and painting – in a single form which will one day rise towards heavens from the hands of a million workers as the crystalline symbol of a new and coming faith'  

(Walter Gropius, 1919, cited in Wingler, H.M, 1969, p.31)

With workshops dedicated to wood, metal and ceramics. Students examined the physical properties, respecting the idea of ‘truth to materials’.  Its approach to art education continues to affect the teaching in many art schools today.

De Stijl, Holland, 1917. This movement was based around a magazine of the same name. It was edited by painter/architect, Theo van Doesburg running from 1917 to 1931. They aimed to express the idea of spiritual harmony within form, geometry, and colour. As mentioned by Wilk, they were influenced by the theories of Piet Mondrian, an ardent Theosophist who sought to create an aesthetic parallel to his spiritual beliefs (2008). Mondrian’s work consisted of, grids of primary colours, horizontal and vertical black lines; following the idea to go beyond nature, creating pure form that all could appreciate.

        

El Lissitzky associated with the Constructivists, 1919. This movement emphasised political and communist utopia. According to Wilk communist utopia primarily relates to countries where the socialist revolution has been accomplished, such as Russia where this movement originated. Lenin and the Bolsheviks promoted a vision of the future that emphasized the new egalitarian and collective society (2008). After the 1917 Revolution, Lissitzky and other Constructivists aimed create a new artistic language, developing from Cubism and Russian Futurism. Constructivists created simple, machine like, graphics based from geometry.